European Union – Civil and commercial matters. Articles 17(a) and 18(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 805/2004 should be interpreted as meaning that a court judgment delivered without the debtor having been informed of the address of the court to which to respond or before which to appear, or, as appropriate, before which an appeal could be lodged against such a decision, could not be certified as a European Enforcement Order (EEO). The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling to that effect in five sets of proceedings between the creditor companies, established in Estonia, and the debtors, concerning the certification as EEOs of decisions ordering payment made against those debtors in their absence.